


Why Does The Simurgh Care About PR?

by Spaghettiforpapy



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Alt-Power Taylor Hebert, Gen, Modeling, Reformation, What am I doing, another ziz!taylor story, or the process of it, reformed enbringers, this is a bad idea but oh well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-05
Packaged: 2021-02-27 08:53:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22124383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spaghettiforpapy/pseuds/Spaghettiforpapy
Summary: Taylor learns about the power of friendship and public relations through trauma and near death experiences. Also modeling. Totally not a Simurgh-plot.
Relationships: Taylor Hebert | Skitter | Weaver & Simurgh
Comments: 10
Kudos: 70





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hahhahahaha I don't know what I'm doing h elp this fandom took me over and I'm sca

_ I need a way out.  _

My back pressed against the ever-creaking railing that surrounded the perimeter of Winslow’s roof. The roof was in shitty condition- soggy cigarettes and blunts, broken pieces of glass scattered around one of the corners on the roof, a suspiciously red stain in a convenient little hiding spot behind a poorly placed wall. It was almost as shitty as the school itself but, unfortunately, the roof was the Lethean fields to Winslow’s Tartarus. Meaning that Winslow was way shittier. 

_ I NEED a way out.  _

A strike against my cheek knocked the glasses off my face, and the only reason I didn’t topple over was the death grip I had onto the railing behind me. My knees were bumping together with fear, buckling under me as I tried to make myself seem smaller. 

"Aww, the little retard isn't listening," a catty voice called out. Strands of brown hair entered my vision, and Madison bent down with fake-pity plastered all over her face. She pushed her hair back, smiling brightly. Cutely. My stomach churned. "Hey, can you snap outta your autism mode for a sec? Pretty please?"

"Oh, don't even try," a second girl- Emma, a pretty pale face with pretty red hair and a pretty thin waist- scoffed. A red smile crossed her face, but her bared teeth ruined the otherwise nice expression- no lipstick stains on them, immaculate, straight. "She's real fucking stupid, you know, couldn't tell her dad from the gangsters in the alleyway and blew off the wrong man." Ah, the good ol' incest joke. I would have appreciated it a bit more if this was the first time they indirectly called me a slut. 

"Mads, don't get too close," the final girl barked. She was tall and athletic, with her dark hair pulled back into a tight braid. Sophia glared down at me, her hawk-like eyes cold and glinting with malice. "The weak little bitch probably has herpes from all the junkies she spread her legs to this morning. You ever wonder why she's been coming to class later and later? S'cuz she needs to compensate more and more for the fix they've been giving to her."

Ah, so they're going to be making another story about me? Again? The last one was about how I was a retarded cunt who tried to jump into her mom's grave when she was being buried- the retard jokes continued for a month or so until now- so I'm guessing they're switching their theme to "whore of the year" instead. It's almost like an entire event. Fun. 

That aside, I was almost completely crouched on the floor. My back was burning from where it was pressed into the railing behind me, and despite my mind being used to their taunts my body knew that what was coming next was going to be physical and not so fun. 

I tried to look for a way out, but the three girls- no more than slightly distinguishable blurry figures- caged me in. Madison made a disgusted noise, responding to what Sophia said by straightening and backing away. 

"Ugh, _gross_ ," Madison whined. "Can we hurry up, pleeeease? Looking at her frog-face always made me sick, but now… _urghhg_ …"

"There, there, Maddie," Emma sympathetically reached forward and rubbed the other girl's back, to Sophia's amusement. "Sophia has something planned out to punish Hebert for making you feel so bad. Right, Soph?"

Sophia was probably smirking. Probably. I couldn't really make out her lips like I could her eyes. "Right," she said, before suddenly balling the collar of my shirt in one hand. With her superior strength, she pulled me off the ground and onto my feet. 

I braced myself, getting ready for a punch, a kick to the shim, anything. Instead she tilted her head slowly. "Yanno, we've been trying to make you better, Hebert," Sophia said, softly. It irked me how sweet her voice sounded all of a sudden, despite the excitement that slowly entered her eyes. "The locker. The pushing. The taunting. We've been trying to teach you. But you've had to keep being a dumb little bitch instead, didn't you? You never learned, Hebert, that we are better than you."

Confusion. What was she talking about? What is she planning? I ignored her patronizing words, struggling a bit as panic rose. This was… not normal. They were going to do something bad, weren't they? 

"I mean," Sophia nodded to Emma," Ems had been the one coming up with a lot of the more creative ideas. But you! You didn't even appreciate them! How do you feel about that, Emma?"

Emma made herself sound hurt, but I could hear an underlying smugness in her tone. "Devastated. Here I was, trying to be helpful and teach Hebert a thing or two, and she just wasn't getting the message. It's so rude, you know?"

"What are you two even getting on about?" I snapped out, but my voice was weak as the grip tightened on my shirt. I didn't even deign to recognize Madison- she didn't really matter, I could tell the real brain power came from Emma and Sophia. "Aren't you going to hit me already? Hurt me?"

"Pfft, nah," Sophia chuckled, shaking me a bit. My legs scrambled under me, trying to keep me upright. "Nah. You don't really, ah, respond to being "hurt". It's not the right way to teach you, I realized. No, Hebert, we've got to put it in your head that you depend on us. We are at the top of the food chain. It is to us that you rely on."

"What the fuck are you talking abooo-argh!" I whimpered, being cut off as I suddenly twisted and lurched forward. A hand surrounded the back of my shirt, choking me for a sec until the entire upper half of my body was pushed over the railing. My eyes widened to a larger size than they were, and I grabbed for the railing as I was slowly pushed forward… and forward… and forward. The upper part of my legs, just underneath my crotch, was pressing into the top part of the railing. Sophia's grip on my legs kept me from falling a surprisingly large height- was Winslow always this tall?

I squirmed. "You're fucking crazy! Holy shit! Shitshitshitshit! Let me up, let me up!" I exclaimed, blubbering in panic as Sophia slacked her grip and let me fall for an inch, before tightening again. 

"Whoops," Sophia said, her voice filled with… something I couldn't describe. I couldn't focus on. My legs shivered and my stomach felt bloated with eternally flapping butterflies. Something like vertigo blurred and blackened my vision as I stared at the drop beneath me. "See, you're in a bit of a predicament, huh? Yeah, that's gotta suck. That's gotta suck a lot."

"Ooh! Wait, shake her! Can you shake her?" Emma asked, excited. 

I was promptly shaken. My forehead slammed against the wall in front of me. Hearing the noise, Sophia shook me a little harder, probably trying to break my nose. I moved my head to the side, trying to move before quickly stopping as Sophia loosened her grip again. Two inches. 

"Waitwait, guys? What are we doing?" Madison called out, sounding a bit uncertain. She tried to sound confident but she clearly didn't expect what Sophia was going to do. Again, she didn't really matter. She was like an npc- or whatever Greg would day. Ugh, _Greg_. The worst thing to think about while being held over a three-story drop. 

"Oops, sorry, Maddie! Forgot to prepare you ahead of time," Emma said, not really sounding apologetic but more distracted and flippant. She was probably enjoying watching my being threatened with possible death. "But it's a nice surprise, isn't it? Man, if only I could film this…"

Bitch. 

I moved again, trying to look up this time while also trying to reign in my breath. The blood flowing to my head was actually making me dizzy- my head was pounding and all that. I was allowed to fall two more inches, making my heart stop for probably the fifth time today. 

"Wait, no! No I just- why are you doing this?" I called out, half of me not wanting to look at them and half of me wanting to actually see if they're really getting that much of a kick watching me flail around. My head was pulsing _really_ hard. Fuuuuck, is this a migraine? 

"Don't you pay attention? Dumbass," Sophia huffed, sounding annoyed. " _To. Teach. You. A. Lesson._ "

She physically lowered me with each word- probably because she was holding me by the ankles after loosening her grip each time- and now my knees were pressed against the railing. I whimpered. 

"We are the predators. You're the surprisingly dumb prey. Dumber than a cow. Just look at yourself! Fumbling around with no purpose, made to be slaughtered. Look at how you…"

Her words trailed off. Or was I just not able to hear her anymore? I don't know. I lost focus as she lowered me even more. My ankles pressed against the railing, her fists tightening around them. Panicky breaths left me and my chest heaved. I felt sick. I can't think. I can't think. 

Her fists slackened again. Maybe by accident, given the wordless exclamation of surprise that came from Sophia. It was like my ears were filled with jello. Everything seemed so, so slow… but my head hurt. 

My body hurt. 

_**[Trajectory]** _

Fuck. Fuck, I was falling. 

_**[Agreement]** _

I'm going to die. 

_**[Destination]** _

But I couldn't even think. I could barely comprehend that I was going to die. 

_**[Agreement]** _

I heard them panicking, from way up there. This was a long fall, surprisingly. Three stories wasn't that high. 

_ A lone shape drifted through space, orbiting an imperfect planet. The figure, pale and angelic, paused. Then, for the first time in human history, she smiled.  _


	2. Interlude One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet while i work on the second chapter. 
> 
> Assuming that people writing out endbringer conversations are mostly fanon interpretation, and I rather like being more straightforward in writing any conversation, I'll be taking a bit of endbringer-speak from different fics, taking my own preference, and smushing them together in a great big ball of "this might go wrong". :) 
> 
> Can you tell that I'm crying out for help?

**[Confusion] [Query] Where are you going?**

_ [Excitement] [Assuagement] To do something  _ fun. __

_ The pale creature grinned, lowering herself and going off orbit. She flew "downwards", heading towards the atmosphere of the planet before her. _

**[Confusion] [Statement] You are going to get in trouble.**

_ [Smug] [Quip] Perhaps.  _

_ The creature seemed almost cautious, staying close to the atmosphere but not quite entering it. _

**[Exasperation] [Admonishment] 03, you know better than to go off course. It is not even close to time for you to enter the Oceania region-**

_ [Annoyance] [Retort] You know better than to treat me like I do not know what I am doing, 02. Do not interfere.  _

_ Her wings were ruffled. She felt an opportunity arise and she wasn't going to just sit back and do nothing- she was going to chase it. _

_ Another smug smile crossed her face- oh, smiling felt  _ so  _ good- and she waited.  _


End file.
